IWS Documented News INTERNATIONAL

IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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Inter-American Development Bank (IADB)

WORKING PAPERS

http://www.iadb.org/publications/search.cfm?docType=Working%20Papers

 

Recent Publications

 

Productive Development Policies in Trinidad and Tobago: A Critical Review

Moya, Ramiro; Mohammed, Anne-Marie; Sookram, Sandra

Date : Jan, 2010

http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=35049209

[full-text, 77 pages]

 

Even as Trinidad and Tobago seeks productive diversification away from the energy sector, the process underlying the country’s productive development policies (PDP) is in a state of transition from state-directed industrial policy to a newer approach with extensive private-public participation. This study explores the main characteristics of four PDPs in Trinidad and Tobago and reviews them following the related literature (e. g. , Rodríguez-Clare, 2005a and 2005b, and Melo and Rodríguez-Clare, 2006). The four PDPs are: a) The process towards the Promotion of Clusters; b) the PDPs for the Tourism industry; c) the classical PDPs for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and; d) the Free Trade Zone as a policy designed to compensate for the failure of the State.

 

 

Politics, Policies and the Dynamics of Aggregate Productivity in Colombia

Eslava, Marcela; Melendez, Marcela

Date : Dec, 2009

http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=2189850

[full-text, 55 pages]

 

This paper describes private actors’ involvement in Colombia’s policymaking process. While more transparent and formal channels are used to discuss horizontal policies, they are also less effective. The adoption of targeted policies, however, follows a faster track and depends more on political power than on those policies’ potential as engines for productivity growth. Data on policies and political characteristics across sector-region units are used to further characterize the different groups’ weight in policymaking, and the effect of the implied unbalance on aggregate productivity. Electoral weight and being represented by business groups and associations are found to be important determinants of the policy benefits received by a sector in a region, especially when activities are located in regions affected by armed conflict. It is also found that the resulting imbalance of policies damages aggregate productivity.

 

 

Financial Dependence, Formal Credit and Informal Jobs

New Evidence from Brazilian Household Data

Catao, Luis; Pages, Carmen; Rosales, Maria Fernanda

Date : Dec, 2009

http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=35003625

[full-text, 42 pages]

 

This paper examines a much overlooked link between credit markets and formalization: since access to bank credit typically requires compliance with tax and employment legislation, firms are more likely to incur such formalization costs once bank credit is more widely available at lower cost. The relevance of this credit channel is gauged using the Rajan-Zingales measure of financial dependence and a difference-in-differences approach applied to household survey data from Brazil. It is found that formalization rates increase with financial deepening, especially in sectors where firms are typically more dependent on external finance. Also found is that, decomposing shifts in formalization rates into those within each firm size category and those between firm sizes, financial deepening significantly explains the former but not so much the latter. Some key policy implications are derived.

 

 

New Century, Old Disparities: Gender and Ethnic Wage Gaps in Latin America

Atal, Juan Pablo; Nopo, Hugo; Winder, Natalia

Date : Dec, 2009

http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=2230955

[full-text, 76 pages]

 

This paper surveys gender and ethnic wage gaps in 18 Latin American countries, decomposing differences using matching comparisons as a non-parametric alternative to the Blinder-Oaxaca (BO) decomposition. It is found that men earn 9-27 percent more than women, with high cross-country heterogeneity. The unexplained pay gap is higher among older, informal and self-employed workers and those in small firms. Ethnic wage differences are greater than gender differences, and educational attainment differentials play an important role in explaining the gap. Higher ethnic wage gaps are found among males, singleincome generators of households and full-time workers, and in rural areas. An important share of the ethnic wage gap is due to the scarcity of minorities in highpaid positions.

 

 

Political Institutions and Street Protests in Latin America

Machado, Fabiana; Scartascini, Carlos; Tommasi, Mariano

Date : Dec, 2009

http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=35004678

[full-text, 41 pages]

 

This paper argues that where institutions are strong, actors are more likely to participate in the political process through institutionalized arenas, while where they are weak, protests and other unconventional means of participation become more appealing. This relationship is explored empirically by combining country-level measures of institutional strength with individual-level information on protest participation in 17 Latin American countries. Evidence is found that weaker political institutions are associated with a higher propensity to use alternative means for expressing preferences, that is, to protest. Also found are interesting interactions between country-level institutional strength and some individual-level determinants of participation in protests.

 

AND MUCH MORE…..

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This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.

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Stuart Basefsky                   
Director, IWS News Bureau                
Institute for Workplace Studies 
Cornell/ILR School                        
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor             
New York, NY 10016                        
                                   
Telephone: (607) 255-2703                
Fax: (607) 255-9641                       
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu                  
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